David Gray sensed the professional pride of his Hibernian players coming to the fore as they bounced back from their 2-0 humbling in Kosovo by swatting aside Malisheva 4-1 in a largely one-sided Conference League second qualifying round second leg at Easter Road.
The Hibees looked eager to atone for their first-leg flop in Pristina as they came flying out of the traps and levelled the tie with strikes from Owen Elding and Felix Passlack in the opening 15 minutes.
Further goals from Nathan Lowe and Martin Boyle took the tie away from the bedraggled visitors, who hit back late on through Omer Bajraktari, as Hibs closed out a 4-3 aggregate victory to set up a third qualifying round meeting with Macedonian side Shkendija.
Gray detected a desire within his players to prove to their critics that the first leg was merely a blip.
“Nobody enjoys losing games of football, especially the criticism that then comes off the back of it,” said the manager. “They’re human beings, they see it, they feel it and they’re proud boys that want to be the best they can be all the time.
“I certainly felt an edge in training which then gives you confidence and a feeling that they can then go and replicate that in a game and make sure we start the game well.
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“That then gives the crowd something to get behind as well.
“It’s all well and good me saying we need the crowd to make this a real hostile atmosphere for teams to come and get us on the front foot and really be that 12th man, but the players needed to earn the right tonight because of what happened last week, and they certainly did that.
“I’m delighted for them because they fully deserve it for everything they put into this.”
Gray felt Hibs should have enjoyed an even more convincing margin of victory. “I thought the players were outstanding, especially how they started the game,” he said. “They played with much more intent, much more aggression to go forward and the fans were always going to respond to that.
“It was a real strong performance and could have been more comfortable with the chances we created. I thought the front three were really lively all night, hit the woodwork a few times as well.
“It looked a little bit closer towards the end because we lost a goal at the very end, a wonder-strike, but up until that point I thought the players deserved what they got out of it.”
